GENDER ISSUES IN AFRICA
MEANING OF GENDER
Sex: refers to the biological or physical condition of being male or female
Gender: refers to the social condition of being male or female
Gender focuses on how one is perceived in terms of the roles and responsibilities based on being male or female. It implicates on the one’s personality, condition (material well being) and position or status within the society.
MEANING OF DEVELOPMENT IN RELATION TO GENDER
Gender development is the process of removing socio-cultural hindrances to mobility, access to resources and opportunities resulting in an emergence of a more just society.
The process demands that women and men must actively participate in the decision making by contributing their desired changes and information sharing on achievements.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE TO GENDER
This history is traced from 1945 after the end of World War 2 and the eventual formation of United Nations as it incorporated within its charter the concept of equality between men and women in the articles that talk of human rights.
United Nations has utilized several approaches to achieve this equality.
1. Anti-poverty approach (1960-1970)
This approach emphasised on reducing poverty in poor countries. It focused on income generating activities in order to increase capital accumulation and increase per capita income.
This did not reduce poverty especially for vulnerable groups like women and children, the elderly and those with disabilities.
2. Welfare Approach (1970-1980)
This was the second developmental decade by United Nations. It focused redistribution of control over resources. Special welfare programs were introduced for the vulnerable groups. In case of gender the aim was to address the inequalities that existed between women and men. This lead to the development of women in development approach
3. Women in development (WID) approach (1975-1985)
This approach aims at increasing opportunity for women to participate in, contribute to and benefit from development of their society and economies.
This approach has faced challenges because
a. It focused exclusively on women in the development process
b. The approach assumes that women are passive recipients of development process. this is wrong position as they are also active partakers of development process
4. Gender and development (GAD) approach (late 1980’s to date)
This was developed to include both women and men as agents of development. It is based on the fact that when women and men are taken as partners in development then such effort will successes in bring women equality and empowerment.
GENDER ISSUES CRITICAL TO DEVELOPMENT
1. Gender, Education and training
All children are supposed to have their right to education respected. It is education that enables one to acquire skills and knowledge that could improve one’s life and enables him or her contributes to development of the society. It pathetic that in most African societies girl and boys are treated differently when issue of education comes into play.
Girls are discriminated against due to culture, early marriages, pregnancies, sexual harassment.
Girls take up the role of taking care of the home at the same time ensuring that they attend school. This makes them have less time for school which in the end leads to drop of the performance at school. For some girls the decide to drop out of school
Due to tradition girls or young women of school going age are forced to get married. This makes them to drop out of school. Due to their low level of education it is further difficult for them to get employment.
Therefore access to and attainment of education on equal basis is an essential tool for women to become effective agents of change.

Dear father,

Dear father,
Father and my chancellor I am so concerned that I might not go to class forever. The concerned is further compounded that the nation is waiting for my services but it would not enjoy them anytime time soon. This might be along time and far fetched dream. Father think about it, the family is spending it hard earned resources to send me to university but am just staying phwee. Is this making you happy? I hear you have spent over ten million kwacha in legal fees to keep me and my brother on campus. Is it true? When I heard the figure I doubted it. The reason being my other relatives are demanding fuel, drugs, forex etc and this money could go along way to help out alleviate these problems. Now what is so treating is that for the past three weeks the family has also spent more millions of kwacha feeding, accommodating, paying for services, paying for utilities, paying off campus students, lastly but not least paying my lecturers. The figure when computed people are lying that it is around 16 Million kwacha. Again this is not true or is it father? This money has also gone down the gutter? After all I, my brothers and sisters are not learning at all.
My chancellor this letter is to appeal to you to consider clearing the way for me to go back to class. This situation as it stands is not impact well on our family. Already some are saying that it is you father that is standing on the way. I have vehemently denied this allegation. Every right thinking father would want to see his son or daughter graduate and help in the family business. So when people talk like this I doubt their credibility. But the only truth in their sentiments is that you, my father has got power to order that your agents at the university Council to do the needful. That much I do not doubt. So I pray that you use such power. For sure if your agents are told by you that they do the needful then for sure I and my other siblings will be in class the soonest. The more you delay the more these people will be convinced that it you who is blocking me to go back to class.
I hope that this letter reaches you in good time as things stand the family is losing a lot.
Your Dearest Son in College,

Until ‘divorce’ do us part” A feminist legal challenge of matrilineal neolocal widows in realizing the right to property.

“Until ‘divorce’ do us part” A feminist legal challenge of matrilineal neolocal widows in realizing the right to property.
It is the case that that under the matrilineal system of marriage the husband has a duty to build a house (herein after ‘the duty’). This duty it is well established under matrilineal customary law and that it prevails even where one has divorced. The formal law does recognize this aspect of the duty to build a house as shown by a number case law. This broadly ensures that a woman has security of property, that is to say real property, which is a great tool for economic empowerment.
The position under custom is that should the husband die, the widow typically keeps the house and land, plus items judged to be women's essentials. The problem however crops up if the family was residing neolocal. It is observable that under the law the duty however does not subsist when the husband dies. Therefore because of this lacuna people are able to come and misappropriate the deceased property.
However there have been less court cases of property grabbing. This is due to sensitization initiatives on the evils of property grabbing. Regardless of the new Wills and Inheritance Act, 1998 there are still cases of many people suffering. The situation is further compounded by the fact that most people die intestate thus the property’s succession is done using the Act and not necessary custom as prevailing at a particular time.
There are going to be reforms in the law of succession in Malawi in the name of a new Act named Deceased Estate (Wills, Inheritance and Protection) herein after ‘the Act’. This has been said to be an improvement from the Will and Inheritance Act, 1998 and that it is progressive in ensuring gender equality.
There are several developments that have been experience in the property law regime in Malawi especially as implacable to family law. The Constitution uplifts the property rights as human rights. Section 28 of the constitution further holds that an individual can acquire and dispose property as he wills. In section 24 of the Constitution recognizes separate ownership of property in marriage and that only property held jointly by the couples can be distributed upon dissolution of marriage.
The paper notices a lacuna in the law, in that Malawi as a legal pluralism society, provides on one hand , the duty for the husband married under matrilineal system to provides a house to the wife during the subsists of the marriage as well as during divorce. However on the other hand the same law is taking away this very essential duty from matrilineal women, especially women in neolocal residence, in that the husband’s duty to build a house does not subsist after his death.

so we are closing 2011
we hope that in 2012 there shall be
1. fuel
2 academic fredom
3. a lot of forex
4. no draconian laws
5. etc

so we are in for a great time up to 2014.

when JB was in zomba we heard that the VP of DPP  was also here addressing a rally. your guess is as good as mine. then we hear Peter was in Mzuzu lambasting DPP for being chaeters.

now of P's assertion it shows that DPP is fully of boot licker who fail to say the truth?

then i wouls say that P's must set up a new team of people who are clean.

we are watching 2014 woyeee

now if Africa is the birth of civilization why is she poor? the most likely reason is that she has had and still has bad leaders who have not invested in their economy but rather in their pocket. for example Malawian MPs demanding a salary of 1 Million MK = 5 000$ + per month  but yet most of us are leaving at less than 1$ a day. a Professional Officer ( usually university degree holders) civil servant gets 250$ a month. MP's qualifications = non required. their behavior does not even deserve 5000$ per month. read the following and ask your self why Africa the birth of civilization is still poor?

EARLY CIVILISATION

After a long period of time man started to settle permanently and became civilized.

Civilization actually happened because the people lived in communities together; they shared ideas, materials, and worshiped gods together, and conducted trade in form of barter and formation of government

There were a number of centres which included Egypt, Kush and Axum in North Africa, Mesopotamia between Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Fertile Crescent) in Middle East. In china it was along Yangtze-kiang and Hwang Ho rivers and in India it was along Ganges and Indus rivers.

Why civilization developed in these areas

a.     

  Fertile soils

People settled where they could grow food. Fertile rivers valleys provided the suitable places for farming

b.     

Water supply

There was water from the rivers. This water was used fro irrigation and fro domestic purpose

c.      

Safety from attacks

There were natural barriers such as mountains or seas. For example the banks of Nile provided safety to the settlers due to the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Sahara to the west, rapids on the south of the Nile River and the red sea to the east. These barriers prevented enemies from invading the Nile valley fro many years.

d.       

Good climate

The climate was suitable for settlement and agriculture as the weather was not too cold

e.     

  Transport

People were able to travel and communicate easier. They could use boats even bush path connected villages. This is why civilization was able to stay.